Description

In The Function of Form, internationally acclaimed architect, Farshid Moussavi, provides a provocative critique of the historically opposing relationship between function and form to reveal the contradiction at the heart of modernism. We need to move away from the definition of function as utility, she argues, to align it with how function is defined in mathematics, biology or music. Form, on the other hand, should be considered not only in the way buildings are produced, but also how they perform sensorially. Function and form, considered together in architecture, stand in opposition to the dualism which defined our approach to the built environment throughout the twentieth century. This book provides a thought-provoking account of the challenges facing the 21st century built environment, and an enlivened awareness of the wider possibilities of architectural form.show more

Review quote

." . . illustrates the incredible variety and breadth of structural innovation that has happened over the last century or so. . . . Most importantly, this book encapsulates our current era's structural concerns and obsessions as succinctly as John Borrego's Space Grid Structures did in 1968." -- Tropolism "Tropolism"show more